THA increases physical activity level in men, women regardless of age

CHICAGO — Swiss researchers found that total hip arthroplasty increases physical activity in patients and that physical activity persists 5 years and 10 years postoperatively.

“Primary total hip arthroplasty substantially and durably improves physical activity in men and women in all age categories,” Anne Lübbeke-Wolff, MD, DSc, lead study author, stated in a presentation at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Annual Meeting, here. “In patients less than 55 years, postoperative activity levels remained level just before [osteoarthritis] OA symptom onset.”

In her prospective cohort of THA patients recorded since 1996 from the Geneva Hip Arthroplasty Registry, Lübbeke-Wolff and colleagues found that before the onset of OA symptoms, the mean UCLA score was 6.9. The score significantly decreased preoperatively to 3.5. At 5-year follow-up, the score significantly increased to 5.7 and to 5.5 at 10 years. Obese patients’ activity levels tended to be lower over time compared to nonobese patients, she said.

Regarding active lifestyle, Lübbeke-Wolff noted that during the past decade, the proportion of people with a perceived active lifestyle who underwent total hip arthroplasty (THA) increased by 10%. She and colleagues followed the prevalence of active lifestyles in patients with a total of 2,995 THAs studied both before and after surgery. While 33% of patients were active from 2000-2003, she said in 2008-2012, that percentage increased to 47%.